Blight battle in Bridgeport

Updated 12:45 am, Monday, April 28, 2014

Bob Halstead stands in a community garden he has helped organize on an empty lot on Columbia Street, in Bridgeport, Conn. Oct. 11th, 2012. The City of Bridgeport has issued a citation stating that the property is blighted.

Bob Halstead stands in a community garden he has helped organize on an empty lot on Columbia Street, in Bridgeport, Conn. Oct. 11th, 2012. The City of Bridgeport has issued a citation stating that the property

BRIDGEPORT -- Shuttered factories and foreclosed or absentee-landlord owned homes are common targets of the city's aggressive anti-blight initiative.

Now freshman City Councilman Robert Halstead, D-132, and wife Joan Carty, an affordable housing advocate, are out to prove the program is used to harass responsible property owners whose housekeeping standards don't fit someone's idea of a Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot.

The Halsteads found themselves in the blight inspectors' bulls-eye on three separate dates -- Sept. 10, Sept. 16 and Oct. 2 -- for overgrowth, construction debris, bulk items and furniture in their driveway and yard.

Or, as the couple, which is taking the matter to court, argues: typical household items such as a ladder, barbecue equipment, mulch storage bins, a chair that was under repair, milk crates and trays of plants for some of the community gardens the Halsteads organized.

Those were the items that inspectors found by opening a gate and entering the private backyard.

"I take a lot of pride in the house," said Halstead of the three-story residence at 55 Sterling Place, an attractive neighborhood off Brooklawn Avenue where his family has lived since 1999.

It was even featured recently in a 2009 film, "Away We Go," Halstead said.

"And I've done a lot to fix up blighted properties," he said. "I don't want anybody to be able to say Bob Halstead was cited for blight on his property. I want that out."

Halstead at one time worked for the city on housing, planning and land-use issues.

The initial, Sept. 10 violation, which ultimately lead to an accrued $1,500 in fines, also fell on the day Halstead and a running mate campaigning as "independent Democrats" won council primaries against Democratic incumbents.

Halstead said he believed it was to make him look bad and cost him votes.

"The inspection was in response to a complaint from the community about questionable conditions at the property site," said William Kaempffer, a spokesman for the city. " After an appeals process, the fine was reduced to $100, which is not uncommon. The bottom line is that this was nothing more than a case of city employees doing their jobs by attempting to address concerns of the neighborhood."

Officials said the complaint also alleged Halstead and Carty were raising chickens and had an illegal apartment, but those issues were not substantiated.

Halstead and Carty, after initially demanding an apology from Mayor Bill Finch, want the matter to go away entirely.

Carty hired attorney James O'Donnell, who, while trying to negotiate with the city, is also pursuing a court hearing before a judge to have the case dismissed.

"To resolve it will require making them whole for the aggravation and for defending themselves," said O'Donnell, adding he believes City Hall is usually not challenged in court over blight because of the legal costs.

"The idea is most people say, `It's $100. It's not worth fighting," he said.

For several years the city, particularly under Finch, a Democrat who has had an on-again, off-again working relationship with Halstead for years, has been ramping up blight enforcement not only in response to resident complaints, but to also improve Bridgeport's image.

Just a few years ago both Forbes Magazine and the "Family Guy" cartoon on Fox were taking potshots at conditions in the Park City.

In 2010, the Fox sitcom, created by Seth MacFarlane, who grew up in Kent, claimed Bridgeport was "among the world leaders in abandoned buildings, shattered glass, boarded-up windows," and Forbes in 2012 named the city the fourth-dirtiest in America.

Blight enforcement is run by Chris Rosario, who is also active in Democratic Party politics and a potential candidate this year for the state Legislature.

Occasionally, the Finch administration has held press events to highlight the war on blight, such as a year ago when the city demolished a vacant home on Wessels Avenue.

Data on violations and fines for 2013 was not immediately available. The latest city budget proposal contains information from 2011, when blight enforcement was estimated to have issued 650 citations and imposed 590 fines that start at $100 per day.

There were no associated total revenues. But fines can reach staggering amounts, such as $72,000 for one property last year, according to the Finch administration. If left unpaid, the city can place liens on the property.

Most recently, Finch and Rosario have been urging the City Council to increase blight fines from $100 per day to $250 and to allow a portion of that money to be set aside for neighborhood improvements.

"Our goal isn't to take people's properties or take people's money," Rosario said recently. "We're looking to get their attention and get them to do the right thing and fulfill their obligations as property owners."

Finch, in a separate recent statement, echoed those sentiments.

"One blighted house can impact an entire block," Finch said last month. "I think property owners have a reasonable expectation that their neighbors will make an effort to keep their properties clean. And if they don't, I think residents should have a realistic expectation that their government will try to help them."

"But this aesthetic stuff is for the birds," O'Donnell said, arguing the existing blight ordinance leaves too much open to inspectors' interpretation.

For example, while blighted conditions include properties that pose "a serious or immediate danger" are "dilapidated" and "attracting illegal activity," structures can also be cited for not reflecting "the level of upkeep of surrounding premises and properties."

"They basically do whatever they want to do," O'Donnell said. In his petition to the court, O'Donnell calls the blight ordinance "constitutionally defective because it fails to provide sufficient definition to avoid arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement in violation of the petitioner's right to due process."

And, O'Donnell said, specifically in his clients' case, the statute was used "in an attempt to embarrass (Halstead) as a means of political retribution."

A drive past Halstead's and Carty's home this week did not reveal any obvious blight. The couple is doing some grounds work on one side. Some of the large house, which is gray with white trim, needs a little bit of cosmetic work. The front lawn -- with a Buddha statue, purple flowering ground cover and some tulips, a gravel path, a porch strewn with decorative lights and rain barrels to recycle gutter water -- might not meet everyone's standards.

Halstead has had similar run-ins with the city before. In 2012 City Hall cited a South End community garden he helped oversee for blight. But a hearing officer threw out the $500 worth of fines.

Halstead on his own is pursuing a Freedom of Information request with Bridgeport seeking not only five year's worth of blight notices citywide, but all communications related to his specific case, and information on the training of staff in blight enforcement.

Freshman Councilwoman Eneida Martinez-Walker, D-139, like Halstead an activist recently elected to the council, has had plenty of experience with blighted properties in her East End district.

"I haven't received any complaints of any unfair treatment on blight," she said. "(Rosario) definitely goes out of his way to make exceptions to folks. There have been a lot of houses in the community that have had blight issues and I know they are given the opportunity to clean up before they are even given a fine."

One East End landlord who contacted Hearst Connecticut Media over the winter to complain about being unfairly targeted by blight enforcers said ultimately his fines were waived.

"I suppose they try to keep the city clean, but if you're a landlord, you cannot constantly be there," said the individual, who did not want to be identified for fear of being targeted again.

But, the landlord acknowledged, they were satisfied with the blight appeal and hearing process.

"They were fair," the landlord said. "At least they listened to what I have to say."